By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

There are seven “Southern Six” squads left in the state prep football playoffs with a little less than a week to go before Thanksgiving.

Every player and every coach on every team across the state always opens pre-season camp in the hot ass dog days of August with one hope in mind…please let me have to show up for practice on Thanksgiving Day. “Another Monday” and practicing during the holiday break week is what’s on the line Friday night in six separate stadiums from the Pine Belt to a just a few blocks off the beaches of the Mississippi Sound.

In Hattiesburg, Pascagoula faces the Hattiesburg High Tigers for the third straight season at D.I. Patrick Stadium in the Class 6A South State playoffs.

Both teams are on win streaks, as Hattiesburg comes in with eight straight wins and the Panthers are on a five game win streak. The Tigers, who started the season off at 1-2 under first-year head coach Kendall Lacey, have scored at least 40 points in six out of their past seven games, while Pascagoula is averaging 42 points per game offensively on its five game win streak.

“I just had to get a feel for our players,” Lacey said this week. “After our struggles early in the season, we kind of just decided this is what we’re good at and this is what we’re bad at and ever since we figured that out and started identifying the things to make our kids successful then everything changed.”

Veteran Pascagoula head coach Lewis Sims in in his final season at the helm of his Panthers and is aiming for one more week of practice, at least.

“There are no secrets between these two teams,” Sims said. “This is three straight years we’ve played this time of year. Coach Lackey has done a really nice job of putting his mark on that program. They are well coached and they have continued to play at a high-level.”

At historic Milner Stadium in Gulfport, the Admirals are looking for their first trip to the South State finals in 26 years with a win over visiting Petal in yet another rematch from recent postseason action.

This is the third meeting in 13 months between the two teams, all coming in Gulfport including a 26-25 Petal win two months ago and a 17-14 win in the first round of the Class 7A South State playoffs a year ago.

“I think you try and identify what worked and what went wrong the last time,” Panthers head coach Marcus Boyles said. “You have to be able to adjust and execute especially in the fourth quarter. All big games come down to the fourth quarter.”

In Picayune, the rematch there continues in the “Southern Six” as the Maroon tide hosts Hancock at Lee-Triplett Stadium for the second time in six weeks.

Also, defending Class 4A state champion Poplarville heads to McComb to face fellow Region 7-4A foe the Tigers for the second time in six week as well.

Meanwhile, Pass Christian heads to Columbia and Stone hosts Laurel.